MHealth series: New ideas for mHealth data collection implementation in low– and middle–income countries

Michelle Helena Van Velthoven,Josip Car,Yanfeng Zhang,Ana Marušić

doi:10.7189/jogh.03.020101

Abstract

The use of mobile devices in healthcare, or mHealth, has the potential to play an important role in low– and middle–income countries in a wide range of areas. A particular area with great potential to improve global health is using mHealth for data collection. We propose three ideas: (i) to validate and conduct household surveys, (ii) to monitor large–scale programs, and (iii) to measure the global burden of disease. We need to know more about mHealth interventions and their validity to maximise their potential.

Highlights

The use of mobile devices in healthcare, or mHealth, has the potential to play an important role in low– and middle–income countries in a wide range of areas
We propose three ideas where mHealth could be implemented for global health: (i) to validate and conduct household surveys, (ii) to monitor large–scale health programs, and (iii) to measure the global burden of disease
Mobile phones could validate reports on care–seeking by monitoring caregivers’ health care attendance via a mobile phone and comparing this data with information about caregivers’ care– seeking behaviour collected by household surveys

Summary

Introduction

The use of mobile devices in healthcare, or mHealth, has the potential to play an important role in low– and middle–income countries in a wide range of areas. The use of mobile devices in health care, or mHealth, has the potential to play an important role in low– and middle–income countries. More efforts should focus on mHealth data collection, because mHealth has great potential to improve the availability and quality of health data [3].

Results

Conclusion